Why is Food Insecurity so High in the RDC?
The combination of persistent violent armed conflicts, massive populations displacements, poor or inexistent infrastructures, and widespread deterioration of productive assets have significantly affected food security in the DRC over the past two decades.
There are more than 6 million people in a situation of acute food security and livelihood crisis in the country.
Food Security Democratic Republic of Congo October 2015
What is food security?
It is a situation where all members of a household have, at any given time, physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary requirements and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
When we talk about food insecurity, it is when any aspect of this accessibility is compromised. Food insecurity can range between various levels, from acceptable to famine.
What is the food security situation
in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC)?
What we call the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) level in the country is on average 10.7%. According to the World Health Organization, when GAM rates exceed 10%, the situation is deemed as “alarming”.
About 43% of all children under the age of 5 are chronically malnourished and show signs of growth retardation.
About 3 million children suffer from emaciation and are alarmingly thin.
About 2.5 million women of childbearing age are emaciated.
One in ten person living in the rural areas in the DRC are in a situation of food security and livelihood crisis.
For more information
contact: Olivier Le Blanc ([email protected])
Food Security - Democratic Republic of Congo
WFP’s Response to food insecurity in Eastern DRC
WFP in the DRC provides food assistance to vulnerable people among displaced populations in the conflict affected
parts of the country, mainly in the East. With a budget of $240 million, WFP aims to assist 3.2 million people
between 2016 and 2017.
The name of this intervention is the “Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation”. Its objectives are: Provide life-
saving food assistance for internally displaced people and refugees in conflict affected areas; support early recovery
for people returning to their areas of origin; ensure children school attendance through emergency school feeding;
and reduce malnutrition for children as well as pregnant and nursing women.
WFP’s Response to food insecurity in Northern DRC
WFP aims to assist 1.5 million people affected by the unfolding crisis in the
Central African Republic with a regional approach in its 4 neighboring
countries: the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Chad and the DRC.
There are currently over 100,000 refugees in the DRC. The majority of
them, around 65,000, live in five different temporary camps. The rest live
among host populations in villages along the border area of the two
countries.
WFP provides its assistance to the refugees living in the camps with cash-
based transfers, food distributions, and nutrition assistance.
For more information
contact: Olivier Le Blanc ([email protected])